When putting up my Christmas decorations around my house this past weekend, I couldn’t help but reminisce about my childhood and the Christmas traditions that we had growing up. I immediately think about my grandmothers especially my dad’s mom. I remember growing up she would close off one of the vents to a vacant bedroom in her home and store all kinds of Christmas cookies and candies there. Yes, that’s right, a whole room! On the occasion when I would help out on my family’s dairy, I would sneak into her house and grab a plateful of peanut butter balls, millionaire candies, peanut patties, and Christmas cookies. That’s when I developed a passion of making candy. My local 4-H would put on a Jr. Livestock show every year. They would also have a food and craft exhibit. One year I put my candy making skills to the test and made the famous Martha Washington candy. Little did I know that these sweet morsals of chocolate and coconut would not only win the candy division of the competition, but my dish won the Best Overall award which put my candy in the auction. Gosh, I was so proud when they opened those doors and I saw my candy front and center with a big blue ribbon! Sorry for the late post, this week has been crazy!! Monday I had every intention of making these candies! I went to the store grabbed all of the ingredients, arrived home, put the baby in the bumbo and began making them. After mixing everything together, I was puzzled as to why the mixture was extremely runny. I double checked the ingredients and read the recipe over again, and couldn’t figure it out. So I immediately call my mom. I read her the ingredients that I used, and that’s when she said “ You goober, you used evaporated milk instead of condensed.” We had a great laugh for sure. So I was able to salvage the mix and I’m going to save it for an icing on a cake that I’m going to make this weekend! Melt your stick of butter, and add all the ingredients together. Except the chocolate and wax. Mix it all up! Then roll the mixture into bite size balls. I like to throw mine in the freezer for about an hour. Melt your chocolate and wax together. I like to use Gulf Wax. It is perfectly safe and edible. I use it on all of my candy recipes. It makes that lovely sheen and crunch when you bite into the candy. My grandmother and mom have been using it forever! Once that is all melted, take your candy, and dip them into the chocolate. Then set them onto some parchment or wax paper to harden. Another handy tip with the wax, they harden quicker, so you can you can eat them quicker. Marth Washingtons
Ingredients: 1 stick of butter melted 2lb bag of powdered sugar 1 cup of sweetened coconut 2 cups of chopped pecans 1tsp of vanilla 1 14oz can of condensed milk 2 6oz packages of semi sweet chocolate chips 1 paraffin wax bar Directions: 1. add sugar,coconut, pecans, vanilla, and milk to the butter and mix well. 2. Roll into bite size balls onto parchment paper 3. Freeze for about an hour 4. Melt chocolate and wax over medium low heat 5. Dip in chocolate and garnish with coconut
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It never fails that when one of us gets sick, all of us get sick! We have been passing this mess around for a week now starting with me, then to the baby, and finally my husband. My go to comfort food has always been chicken and mashed potatoes. Bexar obviously doesn’t have one yet, but I know it will never be green beans because he spat those out at me when he had the crud. My husband’s favorite comfort food when he is under the weather is chilli. I have tried so many different chilli recipes out there but none have spoken to me. So I decided to take all of the good elements out of different recipes and make my own concoction. Let me tell you it turned out amazing and was just what Cale and I needed to shake this cold. I happen to think that this recipe is simple and quick! It’s not one of those recipes that takes all day to make. This literally only took maybe 30-45 min, and it was amazing! I sprayed the bottom and sides of my Dutch oven with cooking spray! Then chopped my onion up and browned it with the hamburger meat and breakfast sausage. Ummm... confession I may have added a splash of beer that I was drinking to the pot. It’s totally optional! It had been a long day tending to the sick! Once that is nice and browned up, dump in your beans and tomato sauce and mix it, mix it good! Then just add in all of your spices and mix again! Cover it for a few minutes to bring it all to a boil and enjoy!! If it’s too watery, you can tighten it up by adding some flour in! Yep! That’s really all it takes! I serve it over Fritos and throw some cheese on top. Sometimes, when I make this for breakfast, I will fry up some hash browns, layer the chilli on, and then put a fried egg right on top! You’ll thank me later for that!!
Ingredients: 1lb of ground beef 1lb of breakfast sausage 1 small onion 2 Cans of (not drained) Ranch Style beans (for added spice use the jalapeño ones) 1 (15oz) can of tomato sauce 2 cubes of beef bouillon ( dissolved in 1/4 cup of water) 1 tsp of salt 1 tsp of chilli powder 3/4 tsp of ground cumin 1/4 tsp of black pepper 1/4 tsp of sugar 1/8 tsp of Italian seasoning 1/8 tsp of garlic salt Directions: 1. Brown ground beef, sausage, and onion together 2. Add in beans and tomato sauce and beef bouillon 3. Add in seasonings 4. Bring back to a boil and cover and bring back down to a simmer for 15 min 5. Serve over Fritos and sprinkle cheese on top As I am typing this up, my household is officially healthy again!! Right in time for Thanksgiving!! That is definitely something to be thankful for!! Every Sunday I make a huge crock pot of chicken to have throughout the week. I like to use it for various recipes. Usually I just wing it but last night I decided to make a dish that I haven't made in awhile, and my husband couldn't have been happier! This is quick and easy ( of course!) This recipe is great for a get together with your friends and family to watch the game, or to just enjoy a lazy Sunday on the couch with your hubby and baby( that was my excuse to make them.) These are always a big hit. I have brought them to baby showers, holiday parties, wedding showers, etc... For these occasions I use my mini cupcake pan and just put one won ton wrapper in , this way, there are more of them and easier to pick up and eat. I get asked for the recipe everytime. What inspired this recipe was of course my husband. He has an obsession with anything buffalo flavored. We started a tradition a few years ago during Christmas. The last quiet night before we started to head out in a million different directions we would open gifts and then have a finger food and Christmas movie night. These yummy darlings are always and forever will be on the menu! Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and then I only used 3 breasts out of the picture next door there. I then shredded them up and then added all of the ingredients except the blue cheese crumbles. Mix it until everything is incorporated evenly. Spray your cupcake pan with non-stick cooking spray. Make your first layer of won tons. Then layer another scoop of the mixture on top and sprinkle with cheddar cheese and blue cheese crumbles. Bake for 15-20 minutes! Ingredients: 3 cooked and shredded chicken breasts 8 oz of softened cream cheese 12 oz of wing sauce- your choice of spiciness( I used medium) a dash or 10 of hot sauce ( optional for added spice) 1 cup of cheddar cheese + extra for topping Blue Cheese crumbles Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray cupcake pan 2. mix in all ingredients together except blue cheese crumbles 3. Layer wonton and then scoop in mixture and repeat 1 time. 4. sprinkle with cheddar cheese and blue cheese 5. Back for 15-20 minutes. 6. Serve with ranch dressing Enjoy and catch me next week!
One of my family's guilty pleasures is pasta. I usually cook it at least 2 times a week! I love taking traditional recipes and adding my own little twist to it! So this weekend when we couldn't decide between chicken parmesan or stuffed shells, I knew this was a perfect opportunity to mix them together. As you are starting to get the picture here, you know I go for easy and quick recipes. It's just easier especially with the baby and when my husband is occupied doing something for me around the house...Bless his heart. We have had several busy weekends lately, from moving to my volleyball tournaments to weddings. This month has already been crazy and it literally just started! Whew!! So when my husband mentioned that he wished he could just relax for a little bit, I knew that combining two of his favorite dishes into one might do the trick! Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells and a Cheesecake Bar for the win and of course the Cowboys and the Astros ( this past week!! ) p.s. sorry I'm not as fancy this time with all of my pictures, I have a teething baby who wants to be held and has to see his mommy the whole time.... Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells This may look all fancy and seems like it may take up your whole night, but it literally is one of the easiest dishes that I have made. This was also the first time that I have ever made stuffed shells of any kind, so I was extremely nervous and just hoping for a miracle that they would come out perfectly! We had a few friends over to watch the game, and by the end of dinner, I only had two left over, so I know that was a good sign. The chicken was crispy, the filling was luscious, the noodles were soft except the edges, but that gave the noodles a nice crisp texture which made them heavenly. Overall probably one of the top ten dishes I have made! Here we go! Ingredients 1lb of Jumbo Pasta Shells ( I didn't use all of them) 3-4 fully cooked breaded chicken breasts ( I used the Tyson brand) 15oz Ricotta Cheese ( a 1lb tub is fine too) 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese 3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese + more for the topping 1 Tbs of Italian seasoning 1 Tsp of garlic salt or powder ( they both do the trick) 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce ( I used marinara) Directions 1.Preheat your oven to 400 degrees 2. Bake the chicken accordingly( preheat back to 400 if temp is different for the chicken) Then once chicken is finished cut into 1-2inch pieces. 3. Bring a large pot of water to boil and then salt the water 4. While the water is heating, you can mix the cheeses and seasonings together in a bowl. Once it is incorporated well, I put the mixture in a gallon size Ziploc, and cut the corner. 5. Place all of the noodles in the boiling water and only boil them for 7 minutes!! This is crucial! Drain and rinse the noodles, then let them cool. After they cool down from the cold water rinse, just get a paper towel and dry them as much as you can. 6. spray the bottom of a 13x9 in baking dish 7. pour and spread about half of the jar of sauce on the bottom 8. pipe the filling in the shells and stuff a piece of the chicken in each one 9. pour the remaining half of the sauce on top of the shells and sprinkle even more mozzarella on top. 10. Bake for 25 minutes To top off this amazing dinner, I decided to do a build-your-own cheesecake bar. I cheated because I ran out of time and used The Cheesecake Factory box mix. Let me tell you, it was pretty good! For the topping bar, I used those nifty little sundae toppings in the ice cream section at the grocery store. I did marshmallow, hot fudge, and caramel for mine. My husband did strawberry and chocolate. The possibilities were endless and oh so delicious!
I hope you enjoyed this weeks edition, and I look forward to next week!! Raise your hand if your husband absolutely hates hanging up curtains, wall décor, etc... Ummm... both of my hands are in the air! I don't blame him, I can be a little extra when it comes to decorating the house. He can easily be persuaded by anything that I bake, so I decided to bake while he hung things up. He loves orange and cream flavored treats, and I wanted to test out my new tiffany blue Mini Bundt cake pan from The Pampered Chef! I decided to put a little twist on those famous chain, but oh so delicious Bundt cakes! Orange and Cream Bundt Cake Gather all of your ingredients and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. This is seriously one of easiest cakes that I make!! You literally throw everything into the bowl and mix it up! Which is great because my 6 month old Bexar was keeping me company and "helping" me out while daddy was hanging curtains up! After you have a smooth texture to the batter, fill your cake pan. For the mini Bundt cake pan, I filled each up with about 6 tablespoons. I love the bright color of these darlings! Before you throw these in the oven, be sure to place a foil sheet or a cookie sheet under this just in case they flow over. Nothing is worse than having baked on gunk in your oven. I am particularly nervous about it because my oven is new and I'm not ready for our first kitchen disaster! Bake these beauties for approx. 25-30 min for the small cakes, and 35-40 for a big cake. Before turning the cakes onto a cooling rack, it would be wise to let them sit in the pan for a few minutes. As you can see, I made a boo boo with one of the cakes because I was so excited to see how my minis would turn out! While they cool, it would would be a perfect opportunity to make your cream cheese icing. I used my moms recipe which is just cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla or almond extract. So easy, and lets be serious, why fix something that isn't broken by adding all kinds of fancy ingredients. Keep it simple! After your icing is mixed smoothly, I just put a zip lock bag into a cup, filled it with icing, and cut the corner! I mimicked the way that fancy Bundt cake place does it. It certainly wasn't as pretty but around my house, the cakes wouldn't last long either way! Ingredients: 1 box of White Cake mix 1 3.5 box of vanilla pudding mix 1/2 cup of sour cream 3/4 cup of melted butter or oil 1/4 cup of water 3/4 cup of thawed orange juice concentrate 1/2 cup of sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract My mom's frosting: 2 8oz blocks of room temperature cream cheese 3 cups of powdered sugar 1 tsp of vanilla or almond extract Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Butter and flour your Bundt pan 3. In a large bowl mix all ingredients together- in no special order. Mix on high for about 3 minutes or so. I even used a whisk! 4. Pour into your pan. 5. Bake for 25-30 min for mini Bundt pan and 35- 40 for a regular size Bundt cake pan. Let sit in the pan for a few minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack. While the cake is cooling, make your icing! Whip your cream cheese, and then add one cup of sugar at a time or you will have a mess!! When the last cup of sugar is added, whip it and whip it good. Basically until the icing is smooth and creamy. Scoop all of the frosting out into a plastic zip bag and cut a hole at one of the corners and pipe it onto the cake! Don't forget a nice size dollop in the middle! Well there it is folks! In the end I feel like I received the better end of the trade off! My curtains and décor is hung up, I had the opportunity to use my new toy, enjoyed the day with my babies, and enjoyed this luscious mini Bundt after my husband also smoked a pork loin! It was a great Sunday! Catch me next week!!
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